Blowing Rock, North Carolina
| Location | |
|---|---|
| State | North Carolina |
| Counties | Watauga, Caldwell |
| Region | Blue Ridge Mountains |
| History | |
| Incorporated | 1889 |
| Named for | The Blowing Rock |
| Population | |
| 2020 census | 1,376 |
Blowing Rock is a town in Watauga and Caldwell counties, North Carolina, on the Blue Ridge escarpment south of Boone. Incorporated in 1889, it has been a mountain resort since the late 19th century. The population was 1,376 at the 2020 census.[1]
Name[edit]
The town is named for The Blowing Rock, a cliff overhanging the Johns River Gorge. Winds rising from the gorge are strong enough to blow light objects thrown from the rock back upward, a phenomenon that gave the place its name and inspired a well-known legend of two lovers.[2]
History[edit]
Resort development[edit]
The cool summer climate of the high Blue Ridge drew visitors from the lowlands in the decades after the Civil War. Boarding houses and hotels opened in the 1880s, among them the Green Park Hotel (1891), and the town was incorporated in 1889.[2]
Moses Cone and Flat Top Manor[edit]
Textile manufacturer Moses H. Cone, known as the “Denim King,” built a large country estate near Blowing Rock around the turn of the 20th century, with Flat Top Manor completed in 1901. After the death of his widow, Bertha Cone, the estate passed to the National Park Service and became Moses H. Cone Memorial Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The manor house now hosts a craft center of the Southern Highland Craft Guild.[3]
Blue Ridge Parkway[edit]
Construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway, begun in the 1930s, brought the scenic route past the edge of town and further established Blowing Rock as a tourist destination. The Tweetsie Railroad theme park opened between Blowing Rock and Boone in 1957.[2]